A Career Doesn’t Have To Be A Ladder

“To me, a successful career is one without ceilings, walls, or even a blazed path. It is not a ladder, it is not stairs, it is not a single road with mile markers along the way to tell you how close you are to your destination. Instead it is like Disney World: the whole park is the destination. When you’re finished with Tomorrowland, you can head over to Frontierland. From there you can head to Adventureland, or Fantasyland. None of the lands are the endpoint, and there are multiple ways to get to them from any place in the park.”@andreabadgley – What is a career?

It seems like the only model of career progression that gets talked about is the corporate ladder. So it’s refreshing to hear of another way to think of it.

A way that looks at a career as an adventure. A way that encourages us to pursue different interests and to not be defined by one skill or job. A way that doesn’t revolve around pursuing ever greater levels of compensation and responsibility.

Defining a career is a complicated thing. Ask three people what they want from their careers and you’ll likely get three different answers. For those of us not interested in climbing ladders, I’m glad there’s another way to think about it.

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